So I thought about titling this something less on the nose like... melt in your mouth wagyu, or dry aged Korean bbq is the way of the future, or uni and caviar topped oysters are the stuff of sea otter dreams - but honestly, there's just one simple truth. A swagged out dinner at Cote Korean Steakhouse is legit THE BEST KBBQ I've ever, and frankly will probably ever have.

When it comes to Korean BBQ, there's a few key differences that make them better or worse... namely, quality of meat, quantity and quality of the banchan, service, and cost. I am a big believer in quality vs. cost and do have a hard time justifying places that are good, but charge WAY too much for what you're eating. I also will say that I've been invited into Cote as a media guest and filmmaker... I've done both their set menu and gotten treated to the absolute mouth melty luxury that's their A5... and I haven't paid for a bill... yet.

The first time I went, we opted for their "Butcher's Feast" which is their standard set menu at $54 a person and comes with 4 select cuts and all the assortments. Already the meat they served was far better than anything I'd ever had, and the waiter was there to ensure that each piece was seared to a perfect medium rare... after all, they've put in all the work to find marbled goodness, and age it, so they were most certainly not going to let us overcook it. A+ on the service.

The banchan assortment was pretty standard and on point. But one thing really caught my attention - the giant preserved perilla leaves which had a funky umami flavor and provided a really unique and different wrapping option to the traditional pickled daikon I'm used to.

AND THEN there's the "Fisherman's Welcome" - West coast oysters, East coast uni, and a dollop of caviar! Talk about surf & turf... but f'real, this is a gem all on it's own. And for any seafood lover an absolute must-have starter.

But let's get to the MEAT of this post... sure, the feast is fantastic and probably what I'd order when I go back because I'm not made of money - however if you have cash burning a hole in your pocket then GET READY, because if you thought you knew KBBQ - until you have a sizzling hot, fresh off the grill, perfectly cooked bite of A5 Wagyu - you know nothing of KBBQ.

Yeah. This stuff rings in at $30 / ounce - so it's not my every day go-to, but it's made for expense accounts and people who love the best things in life. I may have shed a tear when they brought out this hunk of meat and I'm not sorry about it.

They also do a steak omakase for $125 - and you know what? OK I'm actually going to rant here for a minute.

There are SO many times I go out to dinner in New York and spend $150 on "so and so's" new place - and I walk out severely disappointed... it happens the most often to me in NY (followed closely by San Francisco). It makes me angry that I feel duped into these overly inflated prices on food that's JUST OK because of the location. And don't get me wrong - there are for sure some exceptional meals and experiences to be had in the city (Granted those normally ring in around $250), but on the price vs. quality scale, this city continues to break my heart.

So if I'm going to spend that - I'd be MORE than happy to spend that at Cote. The quality is all right there... in those beautifully marbled pieces of meat... and for that I'm eternally grateful!

When I heard about Supermoon Bakehouse - a hip fun new bakery in the LES in New York... I admit - I thought to myself, what is this Mr. Holmes rip-off? Not being in New York regularly - I'd missed the news... pastry chef Ry Stephen who basically made Mr. Holmes - Mr. Holmes, with his infamous cruffin (croissant muffins) had left mysteriously and started his own venture in Dominique Ansel territory!

So much to unpack here. I vaguely remember the drama surrounding a recipe book theft... and then he apparently never gave a reason for leaving. But knowing that he had the winning recipe to create Insta-worthy creations and with Aron Tzimas as his partner (the guy behind the design aesthetics) - it makes sense that they'd strike out on their own. Apparently the name comes from the Supermoon that he'd witnessed right after moving to NY and also emblematic of the crescent shape of a croissant mixed with the round shape of a doughnut. Pretty cute!

Alright - so they have all the trappings of food-bait, cheeky neon signs, tiled floors, holographic silverware, and a lineup of rainbow hued pastries with mash-up thrown all over them - but was any of it good?

The short answer - YES.

Like many people of my generation - the older cusp of the influencer world, we have a hard time rationalizing a lot of the vomit inducing things we see going on around us - and yet still subscribe to it because, frankly, it's our job. I know I've put a lot of things out in the world that cause a groan, a cavity or two, or the rage filled hate of internet trolls (sometimes justified.)

And there are a lot of things that are made and sold that are absolutely disgusting - but people STILL #DoItForTheGram.

Thankfully, Supermoon lived up to it's rep, and it wasn't the cruffin, or the croissants, or the doughnuts that won me over. It was the SOFT SERVE! (Don't get me wrong, the croissants were GREAT.) But they'd somehow managed to get the buttery, rich, flaky, and luxurious flavor OF the croissant and rolled it into a creamy, frosty, and delicate soft serve. It honestly felt like I'd been transported to The Good Place and one bite of the fro-yo of the day tasted like absolute heaven!

You'll for sure get suckered in by their rows of pastries and shiny boxes - but if there's one thing I'd recommend next time you're in NY... it's the soft serve for sure.

I succumbed to the "bread cravings" and decided, what's the worst that could happen if I try out making one of these "Keto" breads? I mean, I do love using almond flour - especially when making cakes, so what do I have to loose?

Reading through tons of recipes, there was one that totally caught my eye... 90-second microwave Keto bread. Wait a few hours, or whip something up in minutes? Done and done.

So this recipe is pretty easy, and makes sense. Almond flour, egg, fat, and baking powder to help it rise. Mix it all up, throw it in the microwave to cook the egg, and voila! Eggy bread loaf.

BUT - I made a few changes... because that's what I do, to make it EVEN BETTER for BLT consumption. So enjoy! Or don't. But I just wanted to share it with ya!

90-Second Keto Bread BLT Sandwich

You could also make this a BLTA, I just didn't have any Avocado lying around

3-4 strips bacon

1 egg

3 tbsp. almond flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. Everything Bagel Seasoning

1 tbsp. mayonnaise

1/2 small tomato, sliced

1 piece green leaf lettuce

1 slice red onion

In a skillet over medium-low heat, cook bacon until crispy. Cook slow and low so you can render as much fat out of the bacon as possible. You ideally want at least 1 tablespoon of bacon fat rendered out.

Remove bacon from skillet and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain.

In a bowl mix together egg, almond flour, baking powder, and 1 tablespoon of rendered bacon fat. If you didn't get quite enough for 1 tablespoon, fill the rest with melted butter or oil.

Pour mixture into a small greased microwave safe dish - whatever shape you want the bread to be with a flat bottom. Ramekins work well. Sprinkle the top with Everything Bagel Seasoning... because that makes everything better!

Place dish in the microwave and microwave on high for 90 seconds. When the bread comes out, it will be hot, and will look like a weird puffed egg muffin. Turn it out onto a cutting board and then carefully cut the bread in half lengthwise.

In the same skillet you had cooked the bacon in, heat it back up and toast the bread in whatever bacon drippings are still in the pan. If needed, add just a touch of butter. Toast the bread for about 1-2 minutes on each side or until the bread is slightly golden brown.

Spread mayonnaise on each side and load it up with your bacon, tomato, lettuce, red onion, and optionally avocado. Enjoy!!

Close your eyes and picture this... it's a warm rainy day in New Orleans. You're recovering from a night of drinking far too many saccharine hurricanes and sazeracs, and you want nothing more than a strong bitter cup of coffee and something so comforting and simple it'll make you forget your woes and excite you for another fun fueled day of exploring the bayou.

Enter pastry chef Kelly Fields, her restaurant Willa Jean, and perhaps one of the best presentations of milk and cookies I've ever seen. You sit down at one of the many bright and sunny tables scattered around the restaurant and enjoy the scent of freshly baked pastries wafting through the air. You pause for a moment to admire the fun pendant lamps made from industrial sized stand-up mixer whisk attachments and order a french press and a plate of cookies.

Chef Fields spent more than seven years of R&D perfecting these babies, and once you set eyes on them you know it's already perfection. There's giant melty chunks of three to five different kinds of Valrhona chocolate, delicate crystals of fleur de sel, a tin of ice cold milk infused with Tahitian vanilla bean, and a whisk packed with that precious cookie dough you always wanted to sneak when baking up a batch, but salmonella scares always prevented you from eating. In case you were worried - the eggs in this dish are pasteurized, so eat as much as you want.

You pick up the cookie and it's crisp on the outside - that nice bit of caramelization letting you know that this cookie will stand up well to being dunked in milk. But then you bite into the center and it's warm, soft, and tender. It wraps you in a blanket of Santa comfort and tells you that everything's going to be alright. Even for this non-sweets loving person - I can admire when I've met something truly spectacular and this plate of milk & cookies is just that. Something that I'm sure I'll continue to dream about for years to come... and perhaps one of few things that will get me back to NOLA sooner rather than later.

J Vineyards & Winery up in Sonoma, CA is easily one of my FAVORITE places to visit every time I'm in town. Not only do they have one super stunning patio, lots of delicious bubbles, and creatively cool pairings - but this is a truly female empowered winery. Started by Judy Jordan, the daughter of Jordan Vineyards founder Tom Jordan - she graduated from Stanford & worked in Geophysics which gave her the perfect background as a geologist, along with her family history in viticulture to figure out how to make something special from that Russian River Valley soil.

She started J Vineyards in 1986 focusing solely on creating a sparkling wine - utilizing the valley's cool climate and diversity of soils as her base for grape growing. Since then, unlike a lot of other wineries in the region, they've specialized in a variety of sparkling wines, as well as varietal Pinot Noir's, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris - all fun, easy to drink, and refreshing wines that are easy to pair with delicious foods.

Not only does Judy run the show - but she's brought in Nicole Hitchcock as the chief winemaker. While there are thankfully more and more women entering the winemaking field - it's pretty special to have a place that's championed that female perspective, and you really do notice all the details from sleek and fun packaging, to creating detailed and extremely memorable experiences, to knowing just how best to utilize their space for a bunch of drinking opportunities. Feeling fancy? Head to their "Bubble Room" for an extremely gourmet wine and food pairing in a sophisticated and modern dining room. Want to bring a whole caravan of friends? They have an incredibly cool "event space" for private events that OVERLOOKS the production floor! It's seriously super cool.

But if you're like me and really just want to have fun in the sun with bubbly sips and delicious bites then their patio offers up some really special selections. It's got "Sex and the City" written all over it.

Their menus change seasonally - but I was LUCKY enough to catch this sparkling oyster pairing which was one of the coolest pairing experiences I've ever done! The slightly brine-y and buttery oysters were the perfect conduit to experience the variety of flavorful toppings that offset J's Legacy collection super well. If oysters aren't your thing - you can't go wrong with either the Legacy tasting or the cheese pairings. In past trips we've even had foie gras corndogs on the Legacy menu!

Reservations are highly encouraged, especially if the weather is shaping up to be a beautifully sunny day!

When I heard that there was a new restaurant Tesse coming to Sunset Blvd back in June, my interest was piqued for sure. It's always nice to have new additions to the neighborhood. Then I saw that my FAV girl crush chef Sally Camacho Mueller was running the pastry program and a partner, I knew that I'd at least be spending many a night drinking wine and eating desserts there!

But THEN I saw one of their appetizer offerings... the caviar toast with a crisp potato latke, creme fraiche, a delicate purple potato chip and a garnish of chives and I fell in LOVE. It was everything and more in a bite and while I can't say that I loved all the dishes I've had there - there are a list of things that they do that are absolute perfection.

Like chef Raphel Francois' bone marrow pasta, complete with a side pour #BoneLuge of a special Madeira from wine director & partner Jordan Ogron...

When you go for dinner - my recommendation? Start with as many Caviar Toasts as you can handle. Then go hog wild on amassing the best charcuterie board ever. The Blue Crab Simplissime is like whipped crab potato butter heaven and if you've never Bone Luge'd before - get the bucatini with bone marrow - but really. You will want to save room for dessert. And Jordan's dessert wine pairings. That's where happiness lives and a dinner of caviar, charcuterie, cheese, desserts, and wine sounds pretty great to me. :)

But this post is actually about brunch! Which they've fairly recently launched at the restaurant and it comes with it's own set of delicious dishes... and the BEST pastry bar ever. I'm not entirely sure how this works (and I'll be back once I'm done with Keto so I'll report then) but when you enter, there's an outrageous spread of all of Sally's specialties and trays to amass as many sweets as you can handle. My favorite by far was the simple and sweet morning bun (above).

Also - speaking of sweets the "Pain Perdu" was a thick cut french toast with maple, berries and bananas, and was just as light, fluffy, and rich as it looks. The caramelized bits of sugar crusting the toast was fantastic and even leftovers the next morning were great.

One of the dishes I found super interesting was their play on a "lobster roll" - is actually a lobster sausage with tarragon, fried shallots, cheese, and a beurre blanc on top. The sausage itself was actually super flavorful and I know they serve this on their dinner menu as well... I wouldn't go out of my way to order it in the future - but I'd honestly like to see that lobster sausage used in other ways because it's pretty awesome on it's own!

And Kale's favorite easily was the "Eggs and Fries" made with home fries, whipped eggs, prosciutto and delicious dollops of hollandaise. It's nothing mind blowing, but the flavors in this dish were all comforting, rich, and melded together perfectly.

Like dinner - I'd say that the winner here tho are Sally's pastries. Start with sweets and drinks (and caviar if you still want to) and then see how much room you have left for other food!

When it comes to eating your veggies, Brussels sprouts have always been high on the hit list. They're packed with antioxidants, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, nutrients, and helps protect against cancer and maintain healthy blood sugar levels - it makes sense that this happy cruciferous vegetable is always included in every diet, including Keto.

But Brussels sprouts are also notoriously on the "yuck" list for many people, and that's most likely due to the fact that when overcooked they release excess sulphur (you know, that fart like smell which co-workers HATE you for when re-heating certain veggies in the microwave). Or to basically mask the taste we fry them to a crisp with TONS of bacon, because everything tastes better with bacon.

However, eating them raw? No thanks.

When you stop to think about it however, how is eating them raw any different from cabbage? Sure in full ball form they're dense and tough, but shave them into a fine slaw and you have the base for an amazing salad or side dish!

**I would like to NOTE here however that for some people there are difficult-to-digest sugars found in raw cruciferous vegetables that can cause gas and bloating, and people with thyroid conditions should also stay away... BUT this can easily be fixed by blanching your shaved Brussels in boiling water for 30-45 seconds and then shocking them in an ice bath. That bit of cooking helps make them much easier to digest!**

So when I'd first heard about the idea of a shaved Brussels salad - I was intrigued. I do enjoy the sweet bitterness of the veggie, and then I saw that to offset the flavor... just add TONS of finely grated Parmesan and I was sold. I normally add candied walnuts and pomegranate seeds when I'm making this regularly, but skip those to make it super Keto friendly!

Keto Friendly Shaved Brussels Sprouts SaladYou can just use regular olive oil, but I wanted to boost this with some Keto happy oils!

1 pound Brussels sprouts

2/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoon Avocado oil

1 tablespoon MTC oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Slice Brussels sprout in half and then holding the stem, finely cut lengthwise into thin strips. Continue with the rest of the sprouts until finished. Yes - this will take some time, but the finer the shred the tastier! You could also whip them through a food processor but the shave might not be as nice.

Toss sprouts with Parmesan cheese and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together oils, vinegar, lemon juice, and seasonings. Pour over salad and toss until evenly coated.